But we weren't sure which of Alabama's opponents would be the first to play a game in front of 101,000 fans. Now, thanks to this post from the San Jose Mercury News, we know.

The Crimson Tide and coach Nick Saban will play San Jose State in 2010 for a guarantee of a cool $1 million, according to the story. With Alabama already slated to face Penn State on Sept. 11, 2010 and Duke in Durham, N.C. later in the year, there was an opening right at the beginning.

So, it seems the Spartans will fill that void. Expect them on Sept. 4, 2010.

Just to be sure, I had a phone conversation with SJSU spokesman Lawrence Fan, one that had to be one of the funnier calls I've had with a media relations dude.

It included this response when I asked if the Tide and the Spartans would open the season in 2010. "You've been covering Alabama for a number of years, and through that time, the powers of deductive reasoning and intuition have served you well," he said.

Awesome. Also, when I got on the phone to start, I asked him if I was the third or fourth Alabama reporter to call him about this game. His response was this:

"If you were a baseball player hitting third or fourth, and you were producing, you'd be in St. Louis next month (for the All-Star Game)."

See what I mean?

Good times. And ya know, 2010 is shaping up to be a pretty strong schedule...